We're delighted to announce that I Love Blue Sea has joined Vital Choice. We share the same passion for health and vitality, and we offer you easy access to an even wider variety of premium seafood that is among the purest and most nutritious available. Please accept our offer of a 10% discount on your first order. Simply use code ILOVEVC at checkout. Welcome to the Vital Choice family.

We met Dr. Hibbeln—Senior Clinical Investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—at the Seafood & Health conference in 2005.

In addition to the eye-opening paperDr. Hibbeln co-authored with Vital Choice science advisor William E.M. Lands, Ph.D.—which concerned the fatty acid imbalance in American diets—Joe Hibbeln co-authored a recently published, comprehensive, review of the medical literature on omega-3s and psychiatric problems.

The Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) appointed Dr. Hibbeln and 10 other prominent experts in the field to an Omega-3 Fatty Acids Subcommittee, for the purpose of reviewing the available evidence.

The committee members administered the study from the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine. (Coincidentally, the university hosts Dr. Andrew Weil’s innovative Program in Integrative Medicine, which was not involved in the study.)

The APA’s Omega-3 Fatty Acids Subcommittee looked at evidence from three sources:

Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (Meta-analyses use statistical methods to pool and analyze the results of multiple clinical trials).

The members concluded that the preponderance of evidence supports the hypothesis that people who consume higher amounts of omega-3 EFAs—particularly the long-chain “marine” omega-3s from fish (EPA and DHA)—enjoy reduced risks of depression, bipolar disorder (manic-depression), and related mood disorders.

The omega-3 committee found less evidence that omega-3s affect the risk of schizophrenia or aid sufferers substantially.

As the study authors wrote, “EPA and DHA appear to have negligible risks and some potential benefit in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, but results remain inconclusive in most areas of interest in psychiatry” (Freeman MP et al 2006).

We hope that the positive outcome of a review conducted under the auspices of America’s top psychiatric organization will encourage funding for further research.